No leads in weekend killing, Charlotte's 26th murder this year

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) - A food truck worker was barely phased less than 24 hours after a man was shot to death just a few feet away.

“I don’t know,” the man said, when asked what he thought about the city’s 26th killing so far this year. “It doesn’t make me nervous.”

Police were called to the Eze N Quick mini mart on Tuckaseegee Road around 11 p.m. Friday evening. Officers responded to a call for aggravated assault. Instead, they found a man lying dead in the parking lot from a single gunshot wound.

The killer is still on the loose.

“We do know there were some people in the store, and walking to the store, when this occurred,” said Maj. Gerald Smith with CMPD. “We’re pretty sure there are some witnesses out there. And we strongly, strongly encourage them to come forward.”

Investigators are looking through the store’s surveillance video but so far have no leads or motives, Smith said. Only “one or two” witnesses are talking.

“We…know from that video there are a lot more,” said Smith. “A lot more.”

As night fell, people were seen loitering in the parking lot. A loud argument broke out after a group of young men accused another man of hitting their car. One man told FOX 46 we should not be here and told us to leave. Another man, who didn’t want to be identified, said he was praying for the victim’s family.

This isn’t the first time this location has seen violence. In 2014, a man was killed and two others were injured in a shooting. In just the past month, there have been two aggravated assaults with a gun and an armed robbery within a half-mile radius, according to crime mapping data.

“It’s disturbing,” said Judy Williams, the co-founder of Mothers of Murdered Offspring, when told about the city’s previous murder. “It should disturb everybody.”

Williams helped start the victim advocacy organization after her goddaughter was murdered in 1993. She is angry over the increase in violence and is encouraging witnesses of crimes to anonymously speak out.